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Yeah I've noticed that Marty. I now have a handy and growing collection of microscopic ounces and chisels to choose from, all stemming from this one project. And answered my own question in the process. Basically whatever works for the spot you happen to be working on at any given time.

When doing small (inside) curves with the upset method do you grind a radius on the face of the punch or will a small flat raise the edge without distorting the curve?

The smaller the curve the smaller the face. And I always slightly radius the face for inside curves.
For extremely small radius such as the figure 8 or the & on small Smith & Wesson I just use a tiny point punch at N-S-E and W.
This avoids any chance of the little steel center being totally undercut and falling out.

I can see where you would wind up with a bunch of tools ground to specific curves. How many times do you pros typically practice a cut before tackling the customer's piece? Or do you just let fly the first time? I'd be practicing until I was dreaming about it and still screw it up.

I can see where you would wind up with a bunch of tools ground to specific curves. How many times do you pros typically practice a cut before tackling the customer's piece? Or do you just let fly the first time? I'd be practicing until I was dreaming about it and still screw it up.

Just speaking for myself I only have 3 regular undercutting chisels and one sharp point inlay chisel.
I undercut using H&C and square steel handles. That way my hand can feel the degree of rotation the tool needs to follow the line.
The undercutters are shaped like a small, regular flat screwdriver but with a knife sharp edge.
The wide one is 1/16 inch at the sharp end and is used for line inlay, larger scrolls and form inlays. It's made from a 3/32" cobalt square.
The narrower ones are made from 1/16" round cobalt and normally have about a 1.mm cutting edge, one is straight and one is radius.
Each of these chisels can be, and are modified on the fly to suite the work at hand.
Using a sandpaper covered wood block or an oil stone the edge can be sharpened or reshaped in a moment.
The sharp point punch is also made from 1/16" cobalt and sharpened the same way.
pmace, with experience undercutting just like riding a bike.
You don't need much or any practice to easily get back into the swing of it.

I know what you mean Scott.
I was just following the term that they used.
Upset has a vaguely negative feeling of doing something wrong in my mind.
Yes, impact undercutting does displace some metal upward and done right, that's no problem.
In fact it's the desired result when raising a bur field.

To clarify somewhat...when talking about larger inlays such as animals I have only done raised inlays, not flush. So keeping a smooth flat steel surface right up to the gold is so much easier with the scribe. The scribe also lets me scratch in undercuts where other tools just don't want to fit. And I use it in tight corners for removing metal when no other tool I have will work. When engraving a set of guitar tuners with upright posts that got in the way of every cut I found my self actually scribing in lines to complete scroll work as I just could not make a tool that would work.

Sam. I am interested in the scribe method you use. Is this scribe an ordinary shaped scribe. Is it ground differently. Do you normally use more than one pass with it. Can you elaborate some please.

Hey Jerry, yes the scribe is of ordinary "pencil" point shape, made from a square carbide blank and fitted into the end of a small wood dowel in the shape of a pencil. I hold it like a pencil and use the thumb of my left hand to help control and power it where I want it to go. I usually take at least a few passes and if really deep quite a few passes...though for the undercutting task usually maybe three passes. I find it great to clean up very tight areas of background and sculpting that are just too small for any other tool. Gives that final touch of finished work, though not conducive to making a great salary.

TOS
(The Other Sam)

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